


another birthday

by mettamaxie



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Family Issues, Gen, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, IM JUST VERY SAD WHERES KH4, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, well braig's not physically there but he's mentioned so it counts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 01:44:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21153527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mettamaxie/pseuds/mettamaxie
Summary: Ienzo does some pondering as he has sea salt ice cream on his birthday.





	another birthday

Salty, then sweet.

Ienzo quietly ate his stick of sea salt ice cream, feeling the odd taste touch upon his tongue before disappearing.

As a young boy, he often ate the ice cream as a treat for the work he had done. It was a reward he often looked forward to, approaching one of his guardians with quietly begging eyes as he showed them his papers covered with his messy penmanship.

Ienzo was older now, though. He hadn’t eaten sea salt ice cream in a long while now. During his time in the Organization, he scarcely ate the ice cream. The joy he used to feel with the treat had faded, and thus, he left it behind in the past. A difficult choice, but a necessary one nonetheless.

Eating sea salt ice cream now felt odd, especially on a day like this, a day that was so special for him. It was his birthday, and instead of celebrating it with his family in the castle, he was alone sitting by himself in Radiant Garden’s main square, nibbling on ice cream like a lost child. Sure, Ienzo wanted to spend time with his family, but it wasn’t the same anymore. It hadn’t been the same for a very long time. Not since Braig disappeared.

The mischievous guard was often around to take care of Ienzo when he was much younger. Braig often took him when he was on his patrol shift, buying him a sea salt ice cream along the way and playing a game or two if Ienzo was up for it. Even never truly approved of Braig spending time around Ienzo, but it was inevitable with how much Braig loved the young boy. Thus, Even would scoff and dryly tell Braig to be careful whenever he saw him carrying Ienzo on his shoulders.

Ienzo enjoyed the time he spent with Braig. He was always more comfortable being in the laboratory and fiddling with experiments, but being able to head out and get some fresh air with the carefree guard let him relax a little.

There had been a shift, however. Ienzo noticed it one day as he walked down one of the halls of the castle with Ansem the Wise. He held tightly onto the master’s hand, his other hand gripping his sea salt ice cream. The two were headed to Ansem’s study, though they briefly crossed paths with Braig and Xehanort. It was there that Ienzo had sensed something was terribly wrong.

A chill ran up his spine as Braig walked past him, causing him to shiver slightly and wrinkle his nose. He carefully peered back over his shoulder, narrowing his visible eye. The young man’s heart felt different, plagued by darkness. It was normal for any heart to have darkness, but this...this was unnatural. Ienzo knew that Braig was not there anymore. The man was there physically of course, but that heart, that soul was not his.

The young boy said nothing.

Now fully grown, Ienzo pondered over this moment. He knew why he had not spoken; he rarely ever spoke much as a child, and if he were to tell anyone about what he sensed that day, it was likely that no one would believe him. The best course of action was to keep that information locked away in his mind, so that maybe one day, he could share it.

That had been years ago, however. A decade had passed. Perhaps it was too late. Ienzo had never sensed Braig’s original heart after that encounter. There was no telling what could have happened to it. There was no telling what could have happened to Braig. He could be wandering the worlds as a Nobody, or a Heartless...

He could be dead.

Ienzo shuddered at that morbid thought. It felt best to not think about the possible death of one of his beloved family members on his birthday. He was glad to see Aeleus approaching, a nice distraction from his current train of thought. Ienzo waved at Aeleus, prompting him to nod.

“Hello, Aeleus,” Ienzo smiled, continuing to bite at his ice cream. He’d made some progress now, the stick already half gone. Aeleus gave him a gentle smile, crossing his arms as he leaned against the nearby ledge.

The two grew quiet. It was natural for Aeleus, he was a man of very few words who let his actions do the speaking for him. Ienzo, however, was no longer the mute child he was so many years ago. Now it was just a matter of him not knowing what to say, not helped by the fact that Braig was haunting his mind.

“...Did you come to get me?” Ienzo finally spoke. Aeleus shook his head.

“Oh.”

Silence again. Ienzo could barely stand it. He didn’t understand how this silence could exist while his mind continued to scream at him about his missing guardian. The same questions swam through his psyche, stabbed at his dreams, broke through his thoughts.

The young man was exhausted.

“...Where is he, Aeleus?”

The guard did not answer.

“Why...Where did he go? Why is he not back? What happened to him?” Ienzo gripped the stick of his ice cream. “Why hasn’t anyone tried finding him? He should’ve been back, why is he not? What if something terrible happened? What if he’s-“

_Plop. _

Ienzo looked down to see the other half of his sea salt ice cream on the floor, having melted and fallen off the stick. Aeleus looked down at it, giving a short grunt. Ienzo’s face fell. He closed his eyes and sighed.

“I’m sorry. It’s my birthday, I... I shouldn’t be fretting this much over the matter.”

He looked to Aeleus for a response, but got nothing in return. He wasn’t sure what he expected. Ienzo wondered if Aeleus felt the same way he did. In fact, did any of the others at the castle ever think about Braig at least once? It would be impossible for them not to do so, he was the liveliest of the group, always playfully shouting about something that had just happened, swinging his arms around the shoulders of his fellow family members to make sure they were listening to what he said. As painful as he could be to deal with sometimes, he still made them smile... All of it shifted when Ienzo sensed a different heart inhabiting his body. The silence that followed his absence was deafening.

No wonder Ienzo hated silence so much.

He hated how silent the others were about the matter. He knew they didn’t want to speak to him about it because he was “just a child”. But he wasn’t a child anymore. Ienzo was grown now, and he had every right to know about how his family felt about Braig’s absence. He had the right to make them believe that he had been replaced before suddenly disappearing and not returning. He had the right to do so many things...

But Ienzo was exhausted.

“We’ll be waiting at the castle for your return later on,” Aeleus said, shaking Ienzo out of his thoughts. His shoulders dropped a bit, releasing the tension he had been building up in the past minute.

“R-Right...” he breathed, his voice unsteady. Aeleus put a gentle hand on the young man’s shoulder and patted it before heading off again on his patrol route.

Ienzo looked down at the ice cream stick in his hand. His birthday didn’t grant him any luck, the stick lacked the winner print.

He looked up at the sky, giving a deep exhale as his lip threatened to quiver. He decided to soothe his mind and delve back into his foolish childhood hopes, hopes that wouldn’t be heard for who knows how long.

He closed his eyes, envisioning Braig walking into the main square of Radiant Garden. Perhaps he’d look a little tired, as if he had lost his way a while ago but managed to come climbing back through several hardships. He would freeze at the sight of Ienzo before running up to him and giving him one of his crushing hugs. The two would laugh and cry and catch up as they ate sea salt ice cream. Ienzo would be relieved at having him back, the real him.

He opened his eyes to find an empty main square.

With tears streaming down his face, Ienzo put the stick in his pocket and made his way back to the castle.

**Author's Note:**

> if there's any weird writing mistakes or anything like that im sorry i wrote this in intervals at like 1am fkdfjhsf  
really been wanting to write something like this for a while, i feel like ienzo really works well for this kinda thing. poor kid.  
lemme know what the hell ya think or w/e, might write some similar stuff in the future. this is a concept i like exploring and thinking about (unfortunately enough). doesn't help that braig is my favorite character in the kh series LMFAO


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